psychological definitions of virtual reality

Identifying Virtual Reality by effects on people is applied science-neutral and therefore can provide a more stable definition of virtual reality. It is built on the effects of the setting on one's action and belief, not the scientific depths of how those effects are reached. Based on a psychological or effects perspective one can define four progressive types of Virtual Reality -- (1) level one Virtual Reality is a computer-constructed setting in which people do not come in contact as if they were in an actual setting and never forget that they are not in a genuine setting. (2) level two virtual reality is a computer-constructed environment in which those inside behave as if they were in the actual world, but never forget that they are not in the tangible world. (3) level three virtual reality is an artificially-generated setting in which the participating people interact as if they were in the genuine world and momentarily forget that they are not in the real world. (4) level four Virtual Reality is an artificially-generated environment in which those inside conduct themselves as if they are in the tangible world and earnestly believe that they are in the tangible world. In order to attain advanced effects, the computer-created setting must engage bigger portions of the bandwidth of vital senses (especially vision, hearing, touch) and important human control methods (such as hand and head motion). There is additional discussion at Bubbleworld Media of similar topics.

"Virt" may become a mono-syllabic abbreviation for Virtual Reality (VR). In like manner, in a manner similar to the way in which the words "movie" and "video" have become abbreviations for the phrases "motion picture" and "videographic tape", the terms "Virtie" and "Virteo" may turn out to be terms for macro-scale and mobile virtual reality amusement media. Virtual Tours Fairview Park, Ohio also has further information on this VR topic.

Linked page Virtual Life also has VR information about this.